Various types of clamping mechanisms, for securing workpieces upon, for example, a work table or a workpiece support surface, are of course well known. One well-known type of clamping mechanism comprises a screw-type clamping mechanism which comprises an internally threaded bracket member disposed a predetermined distance above the work table or workpiece support surface, and an externally threaded rod or threaded shank member which is threadedly disposed internally within the bracket member. The threaded rod or threaded shank member has a head portion, which is adapted to be manually grasped, and a distal end or tip portion which is adapted to engage, or be disposed in contact with, the workpiece. Accordingly, when the head portion is manually rotated, the threaded rod or threaded shank member is threadedly advanced relative to the bracket member whereby the end or tip portion will in fact be advanced into engagement or contact with the workpiece. Continued rotation of the head portion will of course continue to effectively advance the threaded rod or threaded shank member, and the end or tip portion thereof, whereby the end or tip portion will be forced into engagement or contact with the workpiece with ever-increasing levels or degrees of force or pressure. It can readily be appreciated, however, that this mode of operation in fact creates an operative problem, namely, that the amount, or level, or degree of pressure, or force, exerted upon the workpiece, so as to in fact securely clamp the workpiece in a fixed state upon the work table or workpiece support surface, is substantially subjective and virtually unknown and therefore cannot be precisely predetermined or controlled.
Accordingly, still further, when a plurality of such clamping mechanisms are engaged or disposed in contact with different regions or different areas of a single workpiece so as to simultaneously or collectively fixedly secure the single workpiece upon the work table or workpiece support table, it can readily be appreciated that it often happens that the various different clamping mechanisms are effectively tightened to different extents, or to different degrees, whereby, in turn, different force or different pressure levels are exerted upon the different regions or the different areas of the workpiece which are respectively engaged by means of the different clamping mechanisms. It can therefore be readily appreciated still further that these different force or pressure levels, as exerted upon the different regions or the different areas of the workpiece, render the different forces or different pressure levels, as exerted upon the different regions or the different areas of the workpiece, non-uniform whereby the different regions or different areas of the workpiece will not in fact be fixedly secured upon the work table, or upon the workpiece support surface, to the same degree. Accordingly, when fabrication processes are to be performed upon the different regions or different areas of the workpiece, the workpiece may tend to move or undergo vibration such that the fabrication process is not able to be performed in a precisely controlled manner.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved method for calibrating workpiece clamping mechanisms such that once a particular clamping mechanism is in fact positionally adjusted or calibrated with respect to, or in connection with, a particular workpiece to be clamped, not only will the particular clamping mechanism always clamp the workpiece with a predetermined, precisely repeatable clamping force, but in addition, the method of the present invention may be utilized in conjunction with the calibration of a plurality of clamping mechanisms so as to enable the plurality of clamping mechanisms to be calibrated in such a manner that all of the clamping mechanism will always exhibit or generate the same precise clamping force whereby the multiple clamping mechanisms, utilized to clamp a single workpiece upon a work table or support surface, can in fact clamp different regions of the single workpiece with precisely the same predetermined clamping force such that all regions of the single workpiece will in fact be securely clamped.